Russia’s Victory Day parade on May 9 in Moscow will be scaled back this year, with the Kremlin blaming a “terrorist threat” from Ukraine. The annual commemorations of Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two will not feature military vehicles or cadets because of the “current operational situation”, Russia’s military said. Although Moscow has been changing traditional parade formats in recent years, it is the first time since the invasion of Ukraine that armoured columns will not be rolling on the Red Square. Several other pro-war commentators noted there had been none of the usual rehearsals that involve massive road closures in central Moscow, BBC reports. It comes amid Ukraine’s recently intensified strikes deep inside Russia.
“This is huge and says more about how the war is going for Russia than anything else,” Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former British Army officer, said on X. Serving for 23 years, he was a commanding officer of the UK’s Joint Chemical, Biological and Nuclear Regiment and NATO’s Rapid Reaction CBRN Battalion. In a comment for The Telegraph, he said what’s normally a massive event has now been reduced to “something closer to a token event”.
He said: “This, remember, is meant to honour the sacrifice of some 26 million Russians during what they call the Great Patriotic War, known elsewhere as the Second World War. To cut it back so dramatically – reportedly due to an inability to defend Moscow from Ukrainian attack – is not just embarrassing; it is strategically revealing. For Vladimir Putin, it raises uncomfortable questions.”
According to the retired colonel, this signals two key issues, one being that the war in Ukraine is not going Russia’s way as Moscow keeps losing ground and suffering mass casualties at an unsustainable rate.
The second warning sign for Russia is that Ukrainian strikes are reaching deep into Russian territory at ranges up to 932 miles, targeting critical infrastructure.
“Moscow appears unable to stop these attacks, and the economic consequences are beginning to bite,” he added.
Many Russian and foreign analysts agree that victory in World War Two – known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War – remains for President Putin the main historical narrative binding the country together.
